To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

-;\ ■■'.-'; ' "■-'■ ■
.'....,,.■.■ /?--.:..---:,:--: : :---.-;: ■. ;;m-, ;--■.: :\- : :;;-;-:;■':'.:
INDEX
MEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
NEWS BRIEFS
2
3
Chairman Goggleye
Can't Hide From
the Truth
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
CLASSIFIEDS
7
page 4
Casinos and Other People
page 4
Chairman Goggleye
disses Leech Lake
Band Members at
Public Meeting, Local
Restaurant
page 4
Leech Lake
Chairman Goggleye
has spy on
his back
page 4
NRLC Report on "Native
Communities, Climate
Change" is unrealistic
page 4
Statistics show crime rate will rise
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
By Special to the Times-Union
As the Indian gaming
debate simmers in Florida,
there are significant issues
to consider about expanding
casino gambling throughout
the state.
With Las Vegas-style gambling
prospects, citizens are raising
concerns about public safety
and consumer protection, and
I share those concerns.
The statistics are sobering. In
communities that permit Class
III casino gambling, such as
Las Vegas-style slot machines,
blackjack card games and even
roulette or craps, the crime
rate is nearly twice the national
average.
Additionally, statistics
show that illegal gambling is
significantly more prevalent
in states that have opened the
door to legalized gambling.
A recent study found more
than two-thirds of compulsive
gamblers had engaged in
criminal activity, including
violent crimes, because of a
gambling problem.
The potential for revenue
enhancement has been cited
as an appealing benefit to the
expansion of gambling, but
Floridians should consider
the cost of doing so. For every
dollar gambling would bring
in, research shows three more
dollars are spent on increased
social costs for criminal justice
and social welfare.
In addition to the public safety
concerns, Floridians should
consider the impact widespread
casino gambling would have
on one of our most valuable
commodities - family-friendly
tourism. Families come to
Florida from all over the world
to experience our beaches and
attractions from the Panhandle
to the Keys.
Wider legalized casino
gambling in our state would
drastically change the nature
of Florida's tourism market. It
could give many parents second
thoughts about bringing their
children to our state for a family
vacation.
The addictive nature
of gambling, particularly
"convenience gambling" found
with Las Vegas-style games, is
the most troubling issue in the
debate on expanded gaming in
Florida.
According to the National
Council on Problem Gaming,
18- to 24-year-olds show the
highest rate of gambling
addiction.
Gamblers Anonymous
estimates that there are more
than 12 million compulsive
gamblers in the United States.
The average compulsive gambler
is more than $80,000 in debt.
Given the highly addictive
force, the propensity for criminal
activities and the possible
adverse effects on our tourism
industry, casino gambling could
conceivably be a nightmare for
Florida.
As our state works through
issues surrounding a gaming
compact with the Seminole
tribe, it is important we reflect
on the potential negative
consequences of expanded
gambling and formulate policy
accordingly.
Bill Mccollum, Attorney General,
Tallahassee
Petition filed
to form union
at Foxwoods
Resort Casino
By John Christoffersen
Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The
United Auto Workers filed a
petition Friday with the National
Labor Relations Board seeking
an election to form a union for
about 3,000 dealers at Foxwoods
Resort Casino.
Union officials called the move
the largest organizing effort in
Connecticut in decades. It also
would be one of the first unions
at a tribal casino.
"This step is epochal,
portending huge shifts in the
legal and labor landscape at tribal
casinos all around the country,"
said Connecticut Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal,
whose office has supported
such efforts. "It would almost
inevitably lead to similar union
efforts at other casinos."
The move came after UAW
officials said a "supermajority"
of the 3,000 dealers had signed
cards in support of the effort. At
least 30 percent of employees of
a proposed bargaining unit must
sign cards to force a vote, which
is supervised by the NLRB.
UAW officials said in June they
had started gathering signatures
in a bid to unionize workers
at Foxwoods. The casino in
Mashantucket is owned by the
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and
has 11,430 employees.
"We have waited for this day
for a long time," Steve Peloso,
a 15-year poker dealer, said in
a statement issued by UAW.
"There have been too many
abuses by management _ coworkers have gotten sick on
the job and are then forced out,
health benefits get worse every
year. We're fed up, and we're
COURT to page 6
Committee focuses on rapes of
Indian, Alaskan native women
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - U.S.
senators are expressing alarm at
the frequency of rape in Indian
country and have vowed to
write legislation to help Indian
and Alaskan native women who
are victims of sexual assault get
medical attention and justice.
The top Democrat and
Republican on the Senate
Indian Affairs Committee said
Congress must address the
legal boundary issues that
complicate some prosecutions,
strengthen law enforcement and
ensure victims have immediate
access to trained nurses, The
Oklahoman reported from its
Washington bureau.
"We've really got to turn
this around," said Sen. Lisa
Murkowski, R-Alaska, who
became emotional when
discussing the impact the
assaults had on women and
communities.
Murkowski's state was one
of those studied in an Amnesty
International report, released in
April, which detailed the problem
of sexual assaults against Indian
women. Oklahoma, which
doesn't have reservations but
has a patchwork of state and
tribal land, and the Standing
Rock Sioux Reservation in
North Dakota and South Dakota
also were studied.
The study relied on interviews
with Indian women, law
enforcement officers and others
to flesh out Department of
Justice statistics showing Indian
women are 2.5 times as likely
to be raped as women in the
general population.
Alexandra Arriaga, director
of government relations for
Amnesty International USA told
the committee that one in three
Indian women will be raped at
some point in their lives and 86
percent of the perpetrators will
be non-Indian men. ,
Witnesses at a hearing to
examine the problem blamed
a variety of factors, including
a chronic lack of resources for
law enforcement; federal laws
and Supreme Court cases that
have led to confusion about
jurisdiction; the remoteness of
some Indian communities; and
social factors, such as poverty
and alcoholism.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.,
chairman of the committee,
said a Sioux reservation in his
state has four police officers
patrolling 2.3 million acres.
Dorgan was adamant that
Congress do something, saying
"it's about real people's lives and
a law enforcement system that
isn't working."
Jami Rozell, a member of
the Cherokee Nation and a
schoolteacher in Wilburton,
told the committee she was
raped in 2003 by a man she had
known since she was in junior
high school.
She said her father called an
attorney friend who warned her
that, if she pressed charges, "the
state court system would just
rape her again."
Rozell declined to press
charges immediately but
decided a few months later to
move forward. The investigation
established that the attack,
which occurred in her home
town of Tahlequah, was not on
Indian land.
But before trial, Rozell said
she was told by the district
attorney's office that, because
she had initially declined to
press charges, the medical
evidence collected the night of
the rape had been destroyed.
Because of that, she said, the
case was basically her word
WOMEN to page 6
Oregon native ends 10-year Sacagawea run,
living history career
Associated Press
BAKER CITY, Ore. - Aafter
nearly three decades of
performing her "living history"
programs, Joyce Badgley
Hunsaker has retired from the
stage with a final appearance
as Sacagawea, the American
Indian woman who helped
guide the Lewis and Clark on
their expedition across the
West.
"My living history ladies'
have allowed me to go so many
interesting and important
places, and have allowed me
to touch the hearts of so many
wonderful people over the years,
it's more than a little poignant
now to say goodbye to them at
last," said Hunsaker, a Baker
City native who now lives in
Washington, D.C.
Her last presentation of
Sacagawea was given this week
at Miami of Ohio University in
Oxford. A record audience of
500 people attended the finale,
ending 10 years in the role.
Hunsaker's professional
career includes presentations
at the Smithsonian and for
Congress in Washington, D.C,
the John F. Kennedy Presidential
Library in Boston, the Gateway
Arch in St. Louis, the 2002
Olympics in Salt Lake City, and
the National Historic Oregon
Trail Interpretive Center in
Baker City.
"Life on the road has been
awfully good to me over the
years, and fulfilling on so many
levels, but it's time now to let
the younger professionals take
the stage," she said.
Her other well-known role of
"Fanny, the Pioneer Woman"
was presented at the Oregon
Trail Interpretive Center and
nationally. Hunsaker's Happy
Canyon role of "Maybelle
Montana," was featured
live during the Pendleton
Roundup.
Hunsaker developed
"Sacagawea Speaks" in 1994,
but her fascination with the
story began with her very
first library book, a children's
biography of the Indian guide
from the Shoshone tribe in
northern Idaho.
According to historical
records, Sacagawea was
kidnapped at age 11 by a
Mandan-Hidatsa war party and
taken as a slave to their villages
in North Dakota before she
turned 14 and was married
off to 50-year-old Toussaint
Charbonneau, a mixed-blood
Frenchman who was hired as a
guide by Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark in November 1804
during their famed expedition.
Hunsaker created her program
by studying the journals of Lewis
and Clark, historical research
and tribal oral traditions.
She depicted Sacagawea in
native clothing crafted from
tanned elk skin, and wore
bright bead necklaces and red
circles painted on her cheeks
as signs of peace. She also used
sign language learned from a
Shoshone elder.
Hunsaker said that she and
her husband, David, deputy
director of the National
Landscape Conservation System
for the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management in Washington,
D.C;, eventually plan to retire
to Baker City.
But she said she will stay
active by advising living history
performers, and also write
poetry.
web page: www.press-on.net
Native gmmmi
Press
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication. Copyright, Native American Press, 2007
Founded in 1988
Volume 19 Issue 38
October 1, 2007
Human Rights, Civil Rights, Treaty Rights:
Minnesota Challenges
L to R: Jamie Edwards, lobbyist for Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe; Billy Frank, Jr., Chairman of the
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission; Mary Sam, Chair of Mille Lacs Area Human Rights
Commission. (Vince Hill photo)
By Vincent Hill
I did not hear Minnesota
Patricia Torres Ray (District 62-
downtown Minneapolis) speak,
but I did have the privilege
of meeting her before she
was elected to represent her
district. She asked for my
support even though I was not
in her voting district. Gladly
I replied! The Mexicans are a
great people, that know what
"work" means. They do jobs
no one else will do, unless the
particular job pays union wages,
etc. As a former CCP-SAFE
(community-oriented police)
block club leader on my block
in the Phillips Neighborhood
in south Minneapolis, and
just a few blocks from the
Little Earth Housing project,
and being a former board
member of EPIC (East Phillips
Improvement Coalition) for
seven years, I worked with the
board leadership to have new
homes, like we have here on
the Mille Lacs Lake reservation,
built on my neighborhood
block. Most of these homes are
currently occupied by middle-
class Mexicans. Other Spanish
speaking families, such as
those from Ecuador live in the
block; a fine Vietnamese family
has not moved, and helped me
fight and remove crack houses
in the area. African and Native
American (Ojibwe) families live
together in harmony. Middle
RIGHTS to page 6
Cherokee Nation faulted for
ousting Freedmen
Indianz.com. \
A former leader of the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
faulted his tribe on Friday for
ousting the descendants of
former African slaves.
Former principal chief Joe
Byrd said the tribe's March
referendum to deny citizenship
to the Freedmen smacked
of racism. He called on his
successor, Chad Smith, to "do
the right thing" and put an end
to an issue that has generated
significant national legal and
political controversy.
"We were all created equal,"
Byrd said at a Congressional
Black Caucus panel in
Washington, D.C. "Do not look
at the color of ones' skin to
justify or try to rationalize your
decisions."
Byrd said tribes have a right
to define their membership.
But the Cherokee Nation's 1866
treaty with the United States
requires the Freedmen and their
descendants to be treated just
like other Cherokees, he said.
"The Freedmen came with
us on the Trail of Tears," he
recalled. "They delivered babies
with us. They died with us. They
ate with us. They buried our
dead. They were one of us."
The Freedmen and the
Cherokees appear together on
the Dawes Roll, a government
census conducted after the Civil
War. The March referendum
amended the tribe's constitution
to require citizens to have an
ancestor on the Cherokee side
of the roll.
The change means that
Freedmen descendants who
would otherwise be entitled to
citizenship cannot enroll unless
they prove they are Cherokee by
blood. About 2,800 people have
been cut off by the amendment,
which is on hold pending the
resolution of a tribal court
case.
The "Cherokee Nation is one
of the most racially diverse
tribes in the United States,
with thousands of members
of African, Asian, and Hispanic
descent, including Freedmen
descendants," said Smith, who
called the Congressional Black
Caucus panel biased because
it failed to include the tribe's
viewpoint.
Smith and his administration
have backed the tribe's effort to
define its citizenship criteria.
Several members of Congress,
however, don't think the tribe
can violate the 1866 treaty
without facing repercussions.
"They need to know," Rep.
Diane Watson (D-California) said
of Cherokee leaders, "that we
don't respect the use of taxpayer
dollars to discriminate."
Watson, who hosted the
panel, is sponsoring a bill to cut
the Cherokee Nation's federal
funding until the Freedmen
are restored to permanent
citizenship. The tribe receives
somewhere between $270
million to $300 million from
the Interior Department.
"My legislation is not an
attack on Indian sovereignty,"
she said.
CHEROKEE to page 6
Seminoles' talks on new slots to
resume; suits could freeze deal
By Jon Burstein
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The Seminole Tribe of Florida
and Gov. Charlie Crist are
set to meet again Monday as
negotiations continue over an
agreement that would expand
the tribe's gambling rights.
Whether they reach a deal or
not, court battles could mean
the Seminoles will have to wait
months — potentially years —
before they have a clear answer
on what forms of gambling they
can have at their seven casinos
in the state.
"The chances of a lawsuit are
100 percent," said Robert Jarvis,
a Nova Southeastern University
law professor and gambling
law expert. "Whatever happens,
someone has a basis for suing."
A legal battle could take at
least two years as the case winds
its way through the appellate
courts, Jarvis said.
But Barry Richard, one of the
Seminole Tribe's attorneys, said
he thinks it's hard to determine
the likelihood of litigation if the
governor and the tribe reach an
agreement.
"A lot of people are saying
there will be litigation, but
I've heard that before [in other
instances] and there wasn't
litigation," Richard said.
Crist and the Seminoles have
spent the past four months
negotiating over the Seminoles'
gambling rights. The tribe has
offered the state $50 million
up front and at least $100
million annually in exchange
for the right to have traditional
slot machines, blackjack and
baccarat.
The tribe has sought a
compact for the past 16 years,
but once voters approved slots at
Broward County's racetracks, its
push for Las Vegas-style games
intensified.
The tribe has argued that
DEAL to page 6
SAMHSA
Awards Almost
$65 Million
Grants to Tribal
Programs
The Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) will
provide almost $65 million
in multiyear grants, starting
in fiscal year 2007, to tribal
organizations serving the
mental health and substance
abuse prevention and treatment
needs of American Indians and
Alaska Natives. These awards are
contingent on the availability of
appropriated funds.
These newly awarded grants
are in addition to more than
$49 million in multiyear grants
that were awarded to tribal
service providers by SAMHSA
during fiscal year 2006. Last
year, SAMHSA initiated a new
AWARDS to page 6

-;\ ■■'.-'; ' "■-'■ ■
.'....,,.■.■ /?--.:..---:,:--: : :---.-;: ■. ;;m-, ;--■.: :\- : :;;-;-:;■':'.:
INDEX
MEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
NEWS BRIEFS
2
3
Chairman Goggleye
Can't Hide From
the Truth
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
CLASSIFIEDS
7
page 4
Casinos and Other People
page 4
Chairman Goggleye
disses Leech Lake
Band Members at
Public Meeting, Local
Restaurant
page 4
Leech Lake
Chairman Goggleye
has spy on
his back
page 4
NRLC Report on "Native
Communities, Climate
Change" is unrealistic
page 4
Statistics show crime rate will rise
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
By Special to the Times-Union
As the Indian gaming
debate simmers in Florida,
there are significant issues
to consider about expanding
casino gambling throughout
the state.
With Las Vegas-style gambling
prospects, citizens are raising
concerns about public safety
and consumer protection, and
I share those concerns.
The statistics are sobering. In
communities that permit Class
III casino gambling, such as
Las Vegas-style slot machines,
blackjack card games and even
roulette or craps, the crime
rate is nearly twice the national
average.
Additionally, statistics
show that illegal gambling is
significantly more prevalent
in states that have opened the
door to legalized gambling.
A recent study found more
than two-thirds of compulsive
gamblers had engaged in
criminal activity, including
violent crimes, because of a
gambling problem.
The potential for revenue
enhancement has been cited
as an appealing benefit to the
expansion of gambling, but
Floridians should consider
the cost of doing so. For every
dollar gambling would bring
in, research shows three more
dollars are spent on increased
social costs for criminal justice
and social welfare.
In addition to the public safety
concerns, Floridians should
consider the impact widespread
casino gambling would have
on one of our most valuable
commodities - family-friendly
tourism. Families come to
Florida from all over the world
to experience our beaches and
attractions from the Panhandle
to the Keys.
Wider legalized casino
gambling in our state would
drastically change the nature
of Florida's tourism market. It
could give many parents second
thoughts about bringing their
children to our state for a family
vacation.
The addictive nature
of gambling, particularly
"convenience gambling" found
with Las Vegas-style games, is
the most troubling issue in the
debate on expanded gaming in
Florida.
According to the National
Council on Problem Gaming,
18- to 24-year-olds show the
highest rate of gambling
addiction.
Gamblers Anonymous
estimates that there are more
than 12 million compulsive
gamblers in the United States.
The average compulsive gambler
is more than $80,000 in debt.
Given the highly addictive
force, the propensity for criminal
activities and the possible
adverse effects on our tourism
industry, casino gambling could
conceivably be a nightmare for
Florida.
As our state works through
issues surrounding a gaming
compact with the Seminole
tribe, it is important we reflect
on the potential negative
consequences of expanded
gambling and formulate policy
accordingly.
Bill Mccollum, Attorney General,
Tallahassee
Petition filed
to form union
at Foxwoods
Resort Casino
By John Christoffersen
Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The
United Auto Workers filed a
petition Friday with the National
Labor Relations Board seeking
an election to form a union for
about 3,000 dealers at Foxwoods
Resort Casino.
Union officials called the move
the largest organizing effort in
Connecticut in decades. It also
would be one of the first unions
at a tribal casino.
"This step is epochal,
portending huge shifts in the
legal and labor landscape at tribal
casinos all around the country,"
said Connecticut Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal,
whose office has supported
such efforts. "It would almost
inevitably lead to similar union
efforts at other casinos."
The move came after UAW
officials said a "supermajority"
of the 3,000 dealers had signed
cards in support of the effort. At
least 30 percent of employees of
a proposed bargaining unit must
sign cards to force a vote, which
is supervised by the NLRB.
UAW officials said in June they
had started gathering signatures
in a bid to unionize workers
at Foxwoods. The casino in
Mashantucket is owned by the
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and
has 11,430 employees.
"We have waited for this day
for a long time," Steve Peloso,
a 15-year poker dealer, said in
a statement issued by UAW.
"There have been too many
abuses by management _ coworkers have gotten sick on
the job and are then forced out,
health benefits get worse every
year. We're fed up, and we're
COURT to page 6
Committee focuses on rapes of
Indian, Alaskan native women
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - U.S.
senators are expressing alarm at
the frequency of rape in Indian
country and have vowed to
write legislation to help Indian
and Alaskan native women who
are victims of sexual assault get
medical attention and justice.
The top Democrat and
Republican on the Senate
Indian Affairs Committee said
Congress must address the
legal boundary issues that
complicate some prosecutions,
strengthen law enforcement and
ensure victims have immediate
access to trained nurses, The
Oklahoman reported from its
Washington bureau.
"We've really got to turn
this around," said Sen. Lisa
Murkowski, R-Alaska, who
became emotional when
discussing the impact the
assaults had on women and
communities.
Murkowski's state was one
of those studied in an Amnesty
International report, released in
April, which detailed the problem
of sexual assaults against Indian
women. Oklahoma, which
doesn't have reservations but
has a patchwork of state and
tribal land, and the Standing
Rock Sioux Reservation in
North Dakota and South Dakota
also were studied.
The study relied on interviews
with Indian women, law
enforcement officers and others
to flesh out Department of
Justice statistics showing Indian
women are 2.5 times as likely
to be raped as women in the
general population.
Alexandra Arriaga, director
of government relations for
Amnesty International USA told
the committee that one in three
Indian women will be raped at
some point in their lives and 86
percent of the perpetrators will
be non-Indian men. ,
Witnesses at a hearing to
examine the problem blamed
a variety of factors, including
a chronic lack of resources for
law enforcement; federal laws
and Supreme Court cases that
have led to confusion about
jurisdiction; the remoteness of
some Indian communities; and
social factors, such as poverty
and alcoholism.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.,
chairman of the committee,
said a Sioux reservation in his
state has four police officers
patrolling 2.3 million acres.
Dorgan was adamant that
Congress do something, saying
"it's about real people's lives and
a law enforcement system that
isn't working."
Jami Rozell, a member of
the Cherokee Nation and a
schoolteacher in Wilburton,
told the committee she was
raped in 2003 by a man she had
known since she was in junior
high school.
She said her father called an
attorney friend who warned her
that, if she pressed charges, "the
state court system would just
rape her again."
Rozell declined to press
charges immediately but
decided a few months later to
move forward. The investigation
established that the attack,
which occurred in her home
town of Tahlequah, was not on
Indian land.
But before trial, Rozell said
she was told by the district
attorney's office that, because
she had initially declined to
press charges, the medical
evidence collected the night of
the rape had been destroyed.
Because of that, she said, the
case was basically her word
WOMEN to page 6
Oregon native ends 10-year Sacagawea run,
living history career
Associated Press
BAKER CITY, Ore. - Aafter
nearly three decades of
performing her "living history"
programs, Joyce Badgley
Hunsaker has retired from the
stage with a final appearance
as Sacagawea, the American
Indian woman who helped
guide the Lewis and Clark on
their expedition across the
West.
"My living history ladies'
have allowed me to go so many
interesting and important
places, and have allowed me
to touch the hearts of so many
wonderful people over the years,
it's more than a little poignant
now to say goodbye to them at
last," said Hunsaker, a Baker
City native who now lives in
Washington, D.C.
Her last presentation of
Sacagawea was given this week
at Miami of Ohio University in
Oxford. A record audience of
500 people attended the finale,
ending 10 years in the role.
Hunsaker's professional
career includes presentations
at the Smithsonian and for
Congress in Washington, D.C,
the John F. Kennedy Presidential
Library in Boston, the Gateway
Arch in St. Louis, the 2002
Olympics in Salt Lake City, and
the National Historic Oregon
Trail Interpretive Center in
Baker City.
"Life on the road has been
awfully good to me over the
years, and fulfilling on so many
levels, but it's time now to let
the younger professionals take
the stage," she said.
Her other well-known role of
"Fanny, the Pioneer Woman"
was presented at the Oregon
Trail Interpretive Center and
nationally. Hunsaker's Happy
Canyon role of "Maybelle
Montana," was featured
live during the Pendleton
Roundup.
Hunsaker developed
"Sacagawea Speaks" in 1994,
but her fascination with the
story began with her very
first library book, a children's
biography of the Indian guide
from the Shoshone tribe in
northern Idaho.
According to historical
records, Sacagawea was
kidnapped at age 11 by a
Mandan-Hidatsa war party and
taken as a slave to their villages
in North Dakota before she
turned 14 and was married
off to 50-year-old Toussaint
Charbonneau, a mixed-blood
Frenchman who was hired as a
guide by Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark in November 1804
during their famed expedition.
Hunsaker created her program
by studying the journals of Lewis
and Clark, historical research
and tribal oral traditions.
She depicted Sacagawea in
native clothing crafted from
tanned elk skin, and wore
bright bead necklaces and red
circles painted on her cheeks
as signs of peace. She also used
sign language learned from a
Shoshone elder.
Hunsaker said that she and
her husband, David, deputy
director of the National
Landscape Conservation System
for the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management in Washington,
D.C;, eventually plan to retire
to Baker City.
But she said she will stay
active by advising living history
performers, and also write
poetry.
web page: www.press-on.net
Native gmmmi
Press
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication. Copyright, Native American Press, 2007
Founded in 1988
Volume 19 Issue 38
October 1, 2007
Human Rights, Civil Rights, Treaty Rights:
Minnesota Challenges
L to R: Jamie Edwards, lobbyist for Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe; Billy Frank, Jr., Chairman of the
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission; Mary Sam, Chair of Mille Lacs Area Human Rights
Commission. (Vince Hill photo)
By Vincent Hill
I did not hear Minnesota
Patricia Torres Ray (District 62-
downtown Minneapolis) speak,
but I did have the privilege
of meeting her before she
was elected to represent her
district. She asked for my
support even though I was not
in her voting district. Gladly
I replied! The Mexicans are a
great people, that know what
"work" means. They do jobs
no one else will do, unless the
particular job pays union wages,
etc. As a former CCP-SAFE
(community-oriented police)
block club leader on my block
in the Phillips Neighborhood
in south Minneapolis, and
just a few blocks from the
Little Earth Housing project,
and being a former board
member of EPIC (East Phillips
Improvement Coalition) for
seven years, I worked with the
board leadership to have new
homes, like we have here on
the Mille Lacs Lake reservation,
built on my neighborhood
block. Most of these homes are
currently occupied by middle-
class Mexicans. Other Spanish
speaking families, such as
those from Ecuador live in the
block; a fine Vietnamese family
has not moved, and helped me
fight and remove crack houses
in the area. African and Native
American (Ojibwe) families live
together in harmony. Middle
RIGHTS to page 6
Cherokee Nation faulted for
ousting Freedmen
Indianz.com. \
A former leader of the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
faulted his tribe on Friday for
ousting the descendants of
former African slaves.
Former principal chief Joe
Byrd said the tribe's March
referendum to deny citizenship
to the Freedmen smacked
of racism. He called on his
successor, Chad Smith, to "do
the right thing" and put an end
to an issue that has generated
significant national legal and
political controversy.
"We were all created equal,"
Byrd said at a Congressional
Black Caucus panel in
Washington, D.C. "Do not look
at the color of ones' skin to
justify or try to rationalize your
decisions."
Byrd said tribes have a right
to define their membership.
But the Cherokee Nation's 1866
treaty with the United States
requires the Freedmen and their
descendants to be treated just
like other Cherokees, he said.
"The Freedmen came with
us on the Trail of Tears," he
recalled. "They delivered babies
with us. They died with us. They
ate with us. They buried our
dead. They were one of us."
The Freedmen and the
Cherokees appear together on
the Dawes Roll, a government
census conducted after the Civil
War. The March referendum
amended the tribe's constitution
to require citizens to have an
ancestor on the Cherokee side
of the roll.
The change means that
Freedmen descendants who
would otherwise be entitled to
citizenship cannot enroll unless
they prove they are Cherokee by
blood. About 2,800 people have
been cut off by the amendment,
which is on hold pending the
resolution of a tribal court
case.
The "Cherokee Nation is one
of the most racially diverse
tribes in the United States,
with thousands of members
of African, Asian, and Hispanic
descent, including Freedmen
descendants," said Smith, who
called the Congressional Black
Caucus panel biased because
it failed to include the tribe's
viewpoint.
Smith and his administration
have backed the tribe's effort to
define its citizenship criteria.
Several members of Congress,
however, don't think the tribe
can violate the 1866 treaty
without facing repercussions.
"They need to know," Rep.
Diane Watson (D-California) said
of Cherokee leaders, "that we
don't respect the use of taxpayer
dollars to discriminate."
Watson, who hosted the
panel, is sponsoring a bill to cut
the Cherokee Nation's federal
funding until the Freedmen
are restored to permanent
citizenship. The tribe receives
somewhere between $270
million to $300 million from
the Interior Department.
"My legislation is not an
attack on Indian sovereignty,"
she said.
CHEROKEE to page 6
Seminoles' talks on new slots to
resume; suits could freeze deal
By Jon Burstein
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The Seminole Tribe of Florida
and Gov. Charlie Crist are
set to meet again Monday as
negotiations continue over an
agreement that would expand
the tribe's gambling rights.
Whether they reach a deal or
not, court battles could mean
the Seminoles will have to wait
months — potentially years —
before they have a clear answer
on what forms of gambling they
can have at their seven casinos
in the state.
"The chances of a lawsuit are
100 percent," said Robert Jarvis,
a Nova Southeastern University
law professor and gambling
law expert. "Whatever happens,
someone has a basis for suing."
A legal battle could take at
least two years as the case winds
its way through the appellate
courts, Jarvis said.
But Barry Richard, one of the
Seminole Tribe's attorneys, said
he thinks it's hard to determine
the likelihood of litigation if the
governor and the tribe reach an
agreement.
"A lot of people are saying
there will be litigation, but
I've heard that before [in other
instances] and there wasn't
litigation," Richard said.
Crist and the Seminoles have
spent the past four months
negotiating over the Seminoles'
gambling rights. The tribe has
offered the state $50 million
up front and at least $100
million annually in exchange
for the right to have traditional
slot machines, blackjack and
baccarat.
The tribe has sought a
compact for the past 16 years,
but once voters approved slots at
Broward County's racetracks, its
push for Las Vegas-style games
intensified.
The tribe has argued that
DEAL to page 6
SAMHSA
Awards Almost
$65 Million
Grants to Tribal
Programs
The Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) will
provide almost $65 million
in multiyear grants, starting
in fiscal year 2007, to tribal
organizations serving the
mental health and substance
abuse prevention and treatment
needs of American Indians and
Alaska Natives. These awards are
contingent on the availability of
appropriated funds.
These newly awarded grants
are in addition to more than
$49 million in multiyear grants
that were awarded to tribal
service providers by SAMHSA
during fiscal year 2006. Last
year, SAMHSA initiated a new
AWARDS to page 6